‘It’s hard doing anything like this in Australia’: Thoroughbred Industry Careers to suspend operations

Cover image courtesy of Thoroughbred Industry Careers

Established in 2018, Thoroughbred Industry Careers (TIC) has achieved what could seem impossible; the not-for-profit organisation has offered education and entry into the world of racing on a nationwide level, including bringing riders from across the country to compete in National Pony Racing Series finals, with the most recent running being at the Gold Coast Turf Club in June.

Now, Chief Executive Officer Lindy Maurice is suspending operations after seven years of the organisation. Chief amongst the contributing factors to her decision is Australia’s scale and a lack of direct financial assistance for the not-for-profit from state regulatory bodies.

The lack of support has been felt the hardest from Racing New South Wales, who initially promised to provide substantial funding for the organisation. After they reneged on their deal just one year into the organisation’s existence, the funding picture drastically shifted and it swiftly became an annual struggle to drum up appropriate support to continue TIC's programs.

“It's hard doing anything like this in Australia, it’s a huge country and we are not united,” Maurice said. “The fragmentation between the states and how our racing is structured makes it really hard to do these kinds of programs. Every time we go to a different state, you've got to reinvent the wheel again."

The lack of support in the TIC’s home state of New South Wales has stung hardest of all.

"These kinds of programs are funded by the regulatory bodies in other jurisdictions. I just can't see a sustainable way forward."

Outreach that works

It was one remarkable aspect of the TIC’s offerings, which supported 110 students in two nationwide courses across four years to gain a foothold in the industry, and the results speak for themselves, with more than 90% of participants still remaining in the industry at the TIC’s last check-in. Maurice's outreach has had a tangible impact on the industry.

In addition, Maurice is particularly proud of the organisation’s sponsorship of the Pony Club Australia Nationals and the North-West Equestrian Expo, the latter an interschools event at Coonabarabran.

“It’s (the North-West Equestrian Expo) the biggest interschools event in Australia and we were the major sponsor,” Maurice said. “We flew Robbie Dolan in to sing after he'd been on The Voice, just before he won the Melbourne Cup, and then we had the Melbourne Cup there. We were just bridging that gap (to new industry participants). Whatever we did, we made sure it was done to the utmost of our abilities.”

The sponsorship of Pony Club Australia was also very dear to Maurice, who said, “they’ve got a membership of 40,000 kids and we were one of their major sponsors. It was the first thing I did when I started TIC - I just wrote them a cheque and said, ‘we’re going to be married to you’. No one else in the industry had done that sort of thing before.”

It is that, and the continued popularity of pony racing that leaves Maurice feeling satisfied that it’s a job well done. She is thankful for the support during TIC’s operation from the likes of John Messara, Chris Waller, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Godolphin, Tony and Calvin McEvoy, Lindsay Park, and the Australian Turf Club, many of whom have supplied placements for cadets and go on to offer them jobs after the course’s completion.

It wouldn’t be achieved either without Tracy O’Hara and Karlie Triffitt, whom Maurice thanked for their hard work and support over the past seven years; “They were instrumental to the organisation’s success.”

To the utmost ability

“It’s been very hard since Richmond TAFE closed down, that really was the gold program,” Maurice said, referencing the closure of Richmond TAFE’s Equine Unit, which had provided the only dedicated trackwork riding course in New South Wales, in 2022. “There has never been a replacement for that facility where you can train trackwork riders safely.”

The move was made citing falling numbers, despite students travelling interstate to attend the course and an outpouring of local support. TIC had utilised the facilities to deliver parts of their Accelerator and Explorer Cadetship courses where students learned to ride trackwork over a 12-week residential program.

“We'd get kids who had never touched a horse before, literally, and have them riding trackwork in 12 weeks,” Maurice said. “Whether they're going to go on to work in bloodstock or studwork or wherever, we've made them ride, and they were just so cute on that final day with the smiles on their faces.

“We wanted, regardless of what you're interested in, everyone had to feel it, understand it. So we were trying to strip away all the barriers to making them feel and to building their confidence, because our industry can be so daunting for a lot of people, especially if you don’t have a horsey background.

“So we would tell them, after this program, you can sit next to a jockey, you can sit next to a trainer or whoever, and you won't feel stupid. You'll know something.”

There had been the hope that the Hunter TAFE site by Scone racetrack, purchased by RNSW the year before Richmond's closure, could become the new base for TIC programs, but nothing came to fruition.

The remarkable success of pony racing

In the aftermath of the closure of Richmond TAFE, Maurice established the National Pony Racing Series in an effort to introduce racing to more children and develop the jockeys of the future.

“Pony racing was on our to-do list,” she said. “It kept us very engaged and busy while we saw if another facility would be developed where we could run our programs.

"Pony racing has been fantastic. I really wanted to do something great, and I really wanted to help young people discover our industry and be trained properly. And through pony racing, you've got all these kids now who are in love with racing.”

The national series kicked off in 2023, but the first race took place in late 2021 where 10 young riders donned some of Australia's most well known silks and raced down the Doomben home straight as part of the launch of the Magic Millions Gold Coast carnival. The winner, 12-year-old Antonia Salmoni, flew home on her pony Lexi by 16 lengths, and the seed was well and truly sown for the series to launch.

“Meeting all the pony racing kids around Australia was such an amazing highlight for me,” Maurice said. “We met some of the most wonderful people and families. There’s going to be a lot of the pony racing kids who will be coming through the jockey ranks in the next few years, that will be quite exciting to watch.”

Some have already launched into their careers - Jett Newman, who won the Exhibition Pony Race on her pony Otis on the Inglis Australia Day raceday the following January secured her jockey licence last season, and has already ridden 46 winners, including four winners on the Lismore card last Thursday.

“She (Newman) was already 14 when she won her pony race, so she could only do the one race,” Maurice said. “If she had been able to start in one of our national finals, she would have won the whole thing.”

With the closure of TIC, Maurice has offered the intellectual property of Pony Racing to the principle racing authorities of each state, and is pleased by the response so far, with Racing Victoria, Racing Tasmania, and Racing South Australia already making moves to continue the series’ legacy.

“Pony racing is better served by each of the states, because they can directly fund it and they can put as much racing as the market desires,” Maurice said. The future of pony racing is assured by PRA commitment, as well as its connection to authorities in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Japan, and France via the Together for Racing International network.

The workforce of the future

“We're really proud of those programs,” Maurice said of the Accelerator and Cadetship programs previously run by TIC. Maurice is particularly proud of being able to offer such courses on a national level; students could be accommodated at the University of Western Sydney while attending, since it shared a campus with the TAFE.

“A lot of those cadets are now in really, really quite big positions, considering the amount of time they've been in industry. It's quite remarkable, really.”

Previous cadets include Zane Jones, assistant to Charlie Duckworth at Chris Waller Racing, and Leigh Allan, who runs the communications arm of Ciaron Maher’s operation. Corey Dunn ascended to the position of foreman at Waller Racing, and is regularly seen on the lead of Lady Shenandoah (Snitzel) at the races.

Others include Ashleigh Alford, a graduate of the Accelerator course who was a travelling foreman with Lindsay Park before being accepted into Racing Victoria’s Apprentice Jockey Squad earlier this year, and Marley Mezi, the long-time strapper and work rider of Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}).

“There’s jockeys that have come out of our courses, there’s journalists, there’s foremen all over the country,” Maurice said. “There are a lot that are out there riding and handling good horses too. There’s people who may not be in high up positions, but they are well known throughout the industry.”

While the door is closed on TIC for now, that doesn’t mean it’s locked forever.

“I think I’ll really miss it,” Maurice said. “Things may change in the future. For now, what I’m most happy with is how we were able to unify the states (except RNSW) and the different clubs. Trying to raise that money and trying to remain independent, trying to work with all the states, that was a feat in itself.

"That was probably the biggest feat - bringing everyone together, working with everyone. That is the biggest highlight for me.”